Who has done the 5star St John excursion?

[BABYJOSIE98]

It may just be myself and DD when we go to St.Thomas and so I was thinking a DCL excursion may be the best option for us.

Has anyone done the 5 star St.John snorkel/beach trip??? It sounds very good and I have heard such good things about St.Johns. I know it would be cheaper on our own,but we just her and I that scares me some.

Thanks for any advice.....

 

[krhardy]

Havent' done it yet, but plan on doing it on the July 24 Magic...are you cruising before or after? If it's after I'll let you know how it was. DH and I did the island tour last time, and fell in love with Trunk Bay and definitely wanted to go back. We decided that the few extra dollars per person for the excursion was worth it to go in style, and not be herded in the ferry like we were last time.

 

[CRB#33]

We just did this last week!

It was very enjoyable. The crew was informative about the surroundings. They watched you carefully and provided dinghies to take you to the beach if you didn't want to snorkel all the way there.

The only negative was the time. You're only there for around an hour and it takes at least 45 minutes to get there and back.

You could buy drinks and snacks on board also.

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

krhardy,

We go after you.....Way after....I am a compulsive Disney planner....my family says I am crazy!!! We are booked on the Eastern for October 15,2005.....I like to check out all my options....

So please let me know what you think???

CRB#33,

Glad you enjoyed it. Is the ride beautiful and relaxing??? I think an hour at the beach might be ok for us. Sometimes that is all you need. Plus we have all day at Castaway cay

I would love to take off on our own to ST.Johns,but since it will probably be just DD and myself I think the DCL excursion would be safer and easier for the two of us.

I just really want to see St.Johns... The island tour sounds good too,but a lot of walking.

Thanks for your help guys...

 

[CRB#33]

It is most certainly a beautiful ride. I just fell in love with St. Thomas because of this ride. The front of the boat can get bouncy, so if that worries you a bit, just stay towards the back. It is a large boat and carries about 100 people. It does go fairly slow, but it still can bounce a bit when it catches the wakes of other big boats.

I recommend buying a panaramic camera. You can get disposable ones. I have some beautiful pictures from this ride.

 

[jeanie]

We wanted to do St John's on own but opted for the St John beach and Snorkle. Although I haven't done the 5 Star I would recommend the beach and snorkle instead for a couple of reason's... the boat ride over was quicker... The "bus ride" alllows you to see at least some of St John's and you are at Trunk Bay longer than the 5 Star boat (about 1 1/2-2hours) and it's cheaper...


Next time we will definately do this on our own but the DCL excursion was perfect for us and there is time to shop in St thomas when you get back...

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

OK, Thanks....So if we want more beach time then I will look into the other trip.....thanks... I was hoping to find something that would let us see some of the island too....

I have plenty of time to decide...

thanks

 

[CM_Mom]

One BIG advantage of the St. John Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel excursion is that you get off the Magic and walk the length of the ship and board the boat to St. Johns that is docked right behind the Magic. When you get back, you're right at the ship. If you do it on your own, you have to take a taxi to Red Hat, then the ferry, then a taxi to the beach...then reverse the process.

We did the St. John Island tour with my 80 something mom and aunt, not much walking at all unless you wanted to, but no swimming or snorkeling time. DD and I figured the cost difference and decided that the convenience overwhelmingly outweighed the slight additional cost. Sometimes it's really nice to let someone else do the thinking.

From my excursion listing, it looks like the 5 Star goes directly to Trunk Bay and doesn't have any time riding around the island - also it's listed as a 4-4 1/2 hour excursion where the St. John Trunk Bay is listed as 5 - 5 1/2 hours.

Be prepared to be totally blown away by the beauty. It's amazing what God can create.

 

[goingbacksoon]

So if someone (like us) wanted more smorkeling time, then the Trunk Bay and Snorkle tour would be a better bet than the 5-star?

At least that's what I'm getting at from here...

goingbacksoon

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I just want to say I'm really enjoying this thread. Tons of information! We have the 5-Star booked for our September cruise and have been curious about other's experiences.
Thanks everyone!

 

[DuncanLL]

We've taken the 5 Star twice before. If you look at the other DCL snorkeling excursions to St. John, none really seem to give you more than an hour to snorkle. Remember, too, that included in the 4 hours is the check-in on the ship at the meeting point, group exit off the ship and walk down the per to the Leyland Sneed.

We've enjoyed the 5 Star. We visited St. John years ago and fell in love with Trunk Bay. On this excursion, the boat anchors right off the beach. You can either jump off the back of the boat ala Jacque Cousteau, get in the water down a ladder or they run rubber dinghies to the beach and you can snorkle from there.

Our kids were 6 & 9 last time we did it and it was PLENTY of time in the water. The 6 year old even spent some time on the beach. He was tuckered out...

You can shower off on the boat when you finish. The boat ride was nice, open and airy and the crew gave a little tour of the sites as we went along.

DH and I flew to St. Thomas once and did an excursion similar to the DCL St. John Beach & Snorkel where you take the ferry and then an open air taxi around the island. It was enjoyable, too, but the highlight was snorkeling at Trunk Bay.

Hope that helps. You could probably spend more time at Trunk Bay if you id it on your own, but I'm paranoid about making all the connections and ferries...

Linda

 

[TootyJane]

We did this excursion in May 2002. My brother and his family opted not to do this excursion because he wanted to spend more time on the beach. I didn't want to do the taxi and ferry thing because I was a little worried about making all the connections and getting back to the ship.

As was said, you just get off the Magic, walk down the pier a bit and get on the Leylon Sneed. It was a great trip over to Trunk Bay. Crew was so nice and gave us lots of information about the islands. Snacks and drinks are available so you'll need to bring some money in case you want to buy something. Crew will also takes pictures which you can purchase and have emailed to you. I think it was $10 for 3 pictures. Our 3 boys were 14, 11 and 7 at the time. Our 14yo did the Jacques Cousteau jump off the boat, the rest of us took the dingy over to the beach. The 1.5 hours at Trunk Bay was the right amount of time for them. They all snorkeled and swam. Water was beautiful. They, and a lot of the other kids on the excursion, were pretty tired on the way back. On the way back, crew will serve you rum punch for the adults and regular punch for the kids. As for my brother, we saw them at Trunk Bay. Taxi and ferry was no problem. They ended up not spending as much time at the beach as they thought they would but did make it back to the ship. Either way, you'll have a great time. HTH

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

The photo in my signature was taken on the 5 Star St John. I also highly recommend this excursion. What a breathtakingly beautiful island. It is in the top five most gorgeous places I have ever seen in my life.

When trying to decide on excursions, we wanted to stay off land as much as possible and see what we could from the water, so the bus/car travel did not appeal to me. This was our mother/daughter cruise and I felt completely safe at all times on this excursion and everywhere else we visited.

It couldn't have been an easier excursion. The crew was very nice and helpful. A real class act. When we arrived at St John, we dinghied over to shore. Once there, you could swim and walk along the beach. I would recommend bringing a water toy/float (something small enough to fit in the dinghie) though. While the Golden Eagle Catamaran on St Maarten provides noodles to play with, the 5 Star does not.

As the others have said, the island's beauty will knock your socks off ... er .. or at least your flip flops.

Have fun!
Tink

 

[RellingTwin]

We did the 5 star the fisrt time and "on our own" the 2nd time. We MUCH prefer the "on our own" trip. The 5 star was nice, but 1/2 the trip is spent in transit. We wanted to spend "the day" at the beach. While the trip to and from TB sounds difficult and complicated, it really is not. We did it with 4 adults and 4 kids and it was very easy. We took the 2pm ferry back to St Thomas to be sure we made it back in time.
Any time at Trunk Bay (no matter how you get there)is wonderful!

 

[twhipple]

We did the 5 star last time and were planning to do the beach and snorkel this time. We did enjoy the 5 star, but I'd like to see some more of St. Thomas and St. John. Our destination is the same, just a different way to get there. We did find the hour would be enough for snorkeling, but both of us had problems with our masks leaking (even with vaseline!) so we didn't get as much time as we would've liked. For this year we're bringing our own masks and snorkels!

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

I think an hour and half of snorkling will be plenty of time for DD and I...... This is a Mom/Daughter trip too and I don't won't too have to worry about anything... So the DCL trip will be best for us. I have plenty of time to save for it.....

I just know that I want to St.Johns................

I would love to be adventurous and set out on my own sometime. I wish the ship stayed in port longer.....

Thanks again!